In some examples, an electric guitar includes a body, strings, and one or more pickups for detecting vibrations of the strings. For example, a magnetic pickup can be used in which the pickup includes magnets wrapped with coils of wire that react to disturbances caused by the guitar's vibrating metal strings. A pickup designed for a multi-string guitar can have multiple poles, each pole corresponding to the string positioned above it. Plucking a string causes the pickup to produce an electronic signal that corresponds to the string's vibrations. The electric guitar may include an output jack for connecting a guitar cable to an external power amplifier, which in turn drives a speaker. In some examples, characteristics of the guitar cable, such as the length of the cable, may affect the electric guitar's tone in the speaker output. The guitar cable has an impedance that in combination with the impedance of the pickup and amplifier results in an overall impedance that affects the electric signals generated by the pickup. Different guitar cables have different impedances and may affect the pickup output signals differently. The power amplifier may be connected to an equalizer or other equipment for producing desired sound effects. The electric guitar may include an audio jack for connecting to a headphone.